Joerg Wuttke, President of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China, speaks at the press conference for the launch of its seventh annual European Business in China Position Paper on Tuesday. [CRIENGLISH]

"With the continued strong growth of China's economy, the business environment remains attractive for European companies. But investment climate is becoming more complex and challenging for foreign businesses operating in China," Joerg Wuttke, President of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China (EUCCC), said this Tuesday at the press conference for the launch of its seventh annual European Business in China Position Paper.

Also the first such paper issued by the EU Chamber of Commerce after China completed its five-year World Trade Organization (WTO) accession period, the European Business in China Position Paper 2007/2008 lauds China's great progress in further opening up its economy and markets, as well as the significant increase of trade volume during the period.

According to statistics offered in the paper, the two-way trade between EU and China exceeded 250 billion euros in 2006, an increase of about 22 percent over 2005.

Based on comprehensive and analytical overviews of horizontal issues, and trade in goods and services, the 330-page and four-part bilingual Position Paper provides an up-to-date European industry analysis of the current business environment in China and offers more than 100 recommendations for improvements in various fields.

Meanwhile, the Paper also urges China to work on creating a more proper framework for further market opening and integration into the global economy.

"We strongly support China's policies of continuing its economic reform, development of domestic markets, improved energy efficiency, having more effective environmental protection and action to reduce social inequality. We believe that European companies can and do contribute positively to all these goals," Michael O'Sullivan, Secretary General of EUCCC adds, "And so we encourage China to continue to open its markets and provide a level playing field for domestic and foreign companies."

With transparency and intellectual property rights protection remaining major concerns, the Paper also finds the lack of coordination between authorities and technical barriers, such as unnecessary or overlapped standards.

Although expressing welcome to new laws and regulations including the Property Rights Law, Labor Contract Law and New accounting rules, EUCCC notes that a more systematic approach is still needed to enhance the implementation of these new legislations.

The European Business in China Position Paper has been submitted to Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi and will be presented to Chinese and European governments, according to Michael O'Sullivan.

The EU Chamber of Commerce in China was founded in October 2000 by 51 European member companies as the voice of European businesses in China. So far, the chamber has got more than 1,100 members.